ARCHIVE: No

"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

"Quit being a big sissy," Max chided him.

Alec turned around in the chair and looked up at her. He was doing his best to be nonchalant about the whole chip-implantation process, but truth was he was terrified. Those hours he'd spent with Ames White's little explosive on his brain stem were some of the most horrific moments of his life, and now here he was voluntarily letting Manticore put another bomb in his head.

If it hadn't been for Max's presence beside him, Alec knew he'd have bolted -- his self preservation instincts were screaming that loudly.

"Alec," Max said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to do this. They can't make you. You can still leave ... go back to Arizona or wherever ... make a new life for yourself."

"I already tried that, Maxie," Alec said. "And it didn't work. Our past always catches up to us, and then we have to run again. The only place I really belong is here ... with my family ... with you."

Max swallowed hard, but nodded. Alec saw that she knew it was true, because it was the same for her.

The Manticore doctor, a different one (a man this time) came up behind him with the implantation device in his hand.

"I repeat," Alec said stoically. "This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

"Yes," Max said quietly. She held out her hand for his, but he shook his head.

"Just do it," he said, reminding himself that this wasn't forever ... that Sandeman could deactivate the thing later. For the present he'd just have to consider it part of a mission ... part of his cover ... a way to fool Lydecker and Ms. Brown into thinking he was complacent.

The thought of the look on Lydecker's face someday when the bastard tried to blow up 494's head and nothing would happen made Alec smile -- a smile that turned into a grimace of pain as the soft puff of a hypogun going off sounded in his ear and a lightening bolt of pure agony shot down his spine.

"Shit!" Alec cried out, his eyes watering with pain as he put a hand to the back of his neck. His fingers came away smeared with blood ... his blood ... but not very much. In a few hours the wound would be healed, the only sign of the chip the small metal disc visible below his bar code. Unlike White's deadly implant, this one wasn't quite as deep -- part of it remained above the skin so it could be "adjusted" if necessary.

"Don't ever try to remove it by yourself," the doctor admonished as Alec shrugged into his jacket and prepared to leave. "Any tampering will result in the explosive going off and that would be ... unfortunate."

"Yeah," the X5 said. "I'd hate to deprive Lydecker of the pleasure of blowin' my brains out personally."

"That would only happen if you were captured by the enemy and deemed unrecoverable," the doctor assured him. "It's for national security purposes, not disciplinary."

"Sure it is," Alec said with a sarcastic smile.

*****

"You're one of us now," Max said as they walked out of the building together.

"Guess so," Alec said with a huge sigh. He glanced up at the sky. There was a cold front moving in from Canada and the air was clear. Stars were just beginning to come out as the sun set in the west. "Where to now?" he asked Max. "Back to your place to wait for orders on our next mission?" The question was sarcastic ... bitter. He couldn't help it.

"We need to see Zack," Max said.

"Oh yeah," Alec said, remembering. "For that assignment and re-training thing. Figures brother Zack would be put in charge of the newcomers. He always did like bossin' people around. He's got my city council seat now, too, doesn't he?"

"Stop it," Max said, not denying that Zack was indeed now TC's alderman. "Zack's not really like that. He's been a good friend, and he's fantastic with Gem and Eve."

Alec snorted in disbelief, but sauntered after Max as she crossed the street to the Terminal City Artworks building where they entered the ground floor coffee shop. Gem -- her short brown hair, perky smile, and doe eyes the same as Alec remembered -- saw them and came around the counter wiping her hands on her apron. Eve, a precocious two-year-old now, ran behind her mother, her big blue eyes wide and curious.

"Zack around?" Max asked.

"He'll be back in a few minutes," Gem said. "He went with Dix to check the water supply. They're having trouble with the main valve again. They need a new one, but it's a hard part to find."

"Some things never change," Alec muttered as he looked around the familiar surroundings. In a way, it felt like old times. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad afterall.

"Have you told him?" Gem asked.

"Not yet," Max said.

"Told me what?" Alec said, that brief feeling of comfort and stability instantly vanishing.

"I'll get him," Gem said. The restaurant manager slipped behind the counter and went into the office area.

"Max, what's goin' on?" Alec asked, his hazel-green eyes narrowing slightly.

Gem came out holding a baby in her arms.

"You had another kid?" Alec said to Gem. "With Zack?" He was mildly surprised, but wondered why such news would make Max act so fidgety. "Congratulations."

But then Gem handed the baby to Max -- and Alec couldn't breathe.

"Alec, this is Brodie," Max said, smiling down at the infant as she rocked him in her arms. Then she looked up at him, chin high, her eyes nailing his defiantly. "He's your son. I didn't tell you before because I didn't want you to feel trapped into staying. I had to be sure you were here because you really wanted to be."

To say Alec was floored was putting it mildly. He was positively stunned. For a very long minute he could only stare at Max and the child, trying to process this incredibly drastic change in his life's status. "My son?" he finally managed to get out. His eyebrows were raised so high they almost disappeared under the dark blond lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead.

"You doubt it?" Max challenged, the fire in her flashing like old times. "Do the math, Alec. You've been gone a year. Brodie's four months old. I was a month along when you disappeared. The pregnancy is the only reason I wasn't forced to take a new mate."

"And you accuse me of keepin' secrets?" he shot back at her. Max had the decency to look embarrassed. "But did you know?" he had to ask. "Before I left, did you know you were--"

"Pregnant?" Max said. "Not for sure, although I suspected I might be."

"But you still sent me away?" Alec couldn't believe that she'd done this to him. "For God's sake why Max?"

"Maybe because I wanted at least one of us to be free!" she shouted.

Alec looked down at the baby. Cooing, waving a tiny fist, his son grinned up at him with big eyes that were already showing glints of gold and green.

"He's pure X5," Max said, getting control of her emotions again. There was pride in her voice. "And his DNA is stable, at least according to Lydecker's people."

"No bar code?" Alec had to ask as he held out a trembling hand and let the baby take hold of his finger. The feel of that tiny grip was astonishing, sending a thrill of electricity ... joy ... down the X5's spine that actually reminded him in a weird way of the chip implantation sensation.

"Nope," Max said. "Just like Eve, he's born free."

Alec had a horrible thought. Ripping his attention away from the child, his eyes went to the mother. "Lydecker didn't put one of those bombs in him, did he?" Tell me he wouldn't do that to a baby."

"Not yet," Max said tightly. "Although ... it's being discussed."

Alec gritted his teeth and decided right then and there that Sandeman was going to be helping them a lot sooner than he'd thought.

"Alec," Max said. "I love you. And somehow we're going to get through this. We're really a family now, and that's worth fighting for, isn't it?"

"Damn right it is," Alec said as he looked across the street to Terminal City and the "ordinary" Manticore guards who now patrolled its gate and perimeter instead of the Sector Police. He was in a trap of Fate's making. The X5 recognized that now. His life and Max's had been forever intertwined from the moment he'd first set eyes on her three years ago. There would never be an escape from his path. But that was fine with him because he didn't want to get away. Instead, he'd stay with his family ... his people ... and he'd fight until they were all truly free. Or until I'm dead.

"Alec?" The new voice from the doorway of the restaurant broke Alec's dark train of thought. "Alec?" Joshua cried out again. "Is it you? Is it really you?"

"It's really me, big guy," Alec said with a genuine smile for his dog man friend. He held his arms wide. "I'm home."

"You're not dead? Again?" Joshua said, obviously not quite believing what he was seeing.

"He's not dead, Big Fella," Max reassured their canine pal. "Once again, the smart ass climbed out of the grave."

"Gimme a hug, big guy!" Alec shouted.

And Joshua did, striding across the room and embracing the X5 in a hug that made Alec's ribs creak. Only when the transgenic began gasping for breath did the dog man set him down and look deeply into his eyes. "You're a father now, Alec," he said, his voice suddenly serious. "You have responsibilities. How long are you going to stay?"

Max was looking at him too, both of them waiting for his answer.

"Forever," Alec said without hesitation, and then he swept Max and his son into his arms and buried his face in her hair, inhaling the sweet scent of his family. But even as he reveled in his new found happiness, Alec slowly raised glittering hazel-green eyes to the guarded walls of Terminal City across the street and made a silent vow. Soon ... very soon ... New Manticore's gonna find out just how dangerous its supposedly captive soldiers really are.